HB2608

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that article X, section 1, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii requires the State to provide a system of public education. Compared to other states, Hawaii is unique because the State, rather than a county or local-level political subdivision, is responsible for providing and funding public education. As a result, funding for public education in Hawaii is primarily sourced from the general fund of the State.

The legislature further finds that public education in Hawaii is not adequately funded. According to a 2017 analysis of real property tax in Hawaii performed by the department of business, economic development, and tourism, Hawaii's education expenditures, as a share of combined state and local government expenditures, is 27.3 per cent and ranks as the lowest in the nation. At $12,855 per child, Hawaii trails mainland school districts of similar size when adjusting for cost of living. This inadequate funding of Hawaii's public education system has played a role in driving many Hawaii families to enroll their children in private schools, leaving Hawaii with one of the highest rates of private school enrollment in the nation according to the United States Census Bureau.

The legislature finds that the United States Department of Education currently considers over seventy per cent of Hawaii's public schools to be Title I schools. Additionally, a majority of public school students are now considered high-needs students, meaning students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch, are English language learners, or are special education students.

The legislature finds that Hawaii's public school facilities are aging so that funding for the repair and maintenance of older facilities and building of newer facilities is sorely needed. The mean age of school facilities in Hawaii is sixty-one years; the average school building is forty-four years old and fifty-three buildings are over one-hundred years old.

The legislature finds that after adjusting for the high cost of living in Hawaii, teachers are faced with the lowest pay in the United States. According to a 2016 study performed by WalletHub.com, Hawaii ranks fifty-first out of the fifty states and District of Colombia in starting and median teacher salaries when adjusted for cost of living.

The legislature also finds that chronic underfunding of public schools undermines the State's goal of providing a quality education to all of Hawaii's children. Insufficient funding results in delayed repairs to school facilities, overheated classrooms, larger class sizes, a lack of adequate classroom supplies, elimination of arts and career and technical education courses, budget cuts for special education and English language learner programs, and an increasing number of vacant teacher positions statewide. It is necessary to develop a new means of funding Hawaii's public education system to ensure that the State will be able to prepare children to meet the social and economic demands of the twenty-first century.

The purpose of this Act is to propose an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Hawaii to advance the State's goal of providing a quality public education for the children of Hawaii by authorizing the legislature to establish a surcharge on residential investment property and visitor accommodations.

SECTION 2. Article VIII, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"TAXATION AND FINANCE

Section 3. The taxing power shall be reserved to the State, except so much thereof as may be delegated by the legislature to the political subdivisions, and except that all functions, powers and duties relating to the taxation of real property shall be exercised exclusively by the counties, with the exception of the county of Kalawao[.]; provided that the legislature shall not be prohibited from establishing a surcharge on residential investment property and visitor accommodations pursuant to Article X, section 1. The legislature shall have the power to apportion state revenues among the several political subdivisions."

SECTION 3. Article X, section 1, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"PUBLIC EDUCATION

Section 1. The State shall provide for the establishment, support and control of a statewide system of public schools free from sectarian control, a state university, public libraries and such other educational institutions as may be deemed desirable, including physical facilities therefor. There shall be no discrimination in public educational institutions because of race, religion, sex or ancestry; nor shall public funds be appropriated for the support or benefit of any sectarian or nonsectarian private educational institution, except that proceeds of special purpose revenue bonds authorized or issued under section 12 of Article VII may be appropriated to finance or assist:

1. Not-for-profit corporations that provide early childhood education and care facilities serving the general public; and

2. Not-for-profit private nonsectarian and sectarian elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities.

The legislature may establish a surcharge on residential investment property valued at one million dollars or greater and visitor accommodations as provided by law to fund a quality public education system for all of Hawaii's children. Allowable use of such funding shall include but not be limited to recruitment and retention of teachers, public preschools, smaller class sizes, special education programming, career and technical education, art education, music education, Hawaiian studies, Hawaiian language instruction, and afterschool programs.

For the purposes of this section:

1. The term "residential investment property" means all real property including apartments and condominiums and appurtenances thereto, including buildings, structures, fences, and improvements erected on or affixed to such real property and any fixture which is erected on or affixed to the land, buildings, structures, fences, and improvements; and all machinery and other mechanical or other allied equipment and the foundations thereof, that are dedicated for residential use and that do not serve as the owner's primary residence.

2. The term "visitor accommodations" means any room, apartment, suite, single family dwelling, or time share unit furnished for less than one hundred eighty consecutive days for each letting in a hotel, apartment hotel, motel, condominium property regime, apartment, time share vacation property, cooperative apartment, dwelling unit, or rooming house that provides living quarters, sleeping, or housekeeping accommodations, or any other place in which lodgings are furnished to transients."

SECTION 4. The question to be printed on the ballot shall be as follows:

"Shall the legislature fund a quality public education system for all of Hawaii's children, including funding for the recruitment and retention of teachers, public preschools, smaller class sizes, special education programming, career and technical education, art education, music education, Hawaiian studies, Hawaiian language instruction, and afterschool programs by establishing a surcharge on residential investment property valued at one million dollars or greater and visitor accommodations, excluding a homeowner's primary residence, as provided by law?"

SECTION 5. Constitutional material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New constitutional material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This amendment shall take effect upon compliance with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of
the State of Hawaii.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2608
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII